#148 anim → mind, spirit

Quick Summary

The Latin root anim means “mind” or “spirit.” This Latin root is the word origin of a good number of English vocabulary words, including unanimous, animated, and animosity. The root anim is easily recalled via the word animal, for an animal is a living, moving creature and so contains a “spirit” and “mind.”

Ingredient Memlet: unanimous

“Anim” Animates Words

The Latin root anim means “mind” or “spirit.” Today we will fill our “minds” with some “spirited” words in an animated fashion!

One of the primary things that separates plants and animals is the fact that animals move and function with a “mind” whereas plants are stationary. A “spirit” moves things, which is the idea behind the meaning “spirit” in anim. Hence, animals are animated, that is, they have a “spirit” which moves them; someone who is animated is exhibiting a great deal of lively “spirit.” That which is inanimate, like a rock, has no “mind” and no moving force, or “spirit.”

An animated film is one in which still pictures have been infused with the “spirit” of movement, bringing the pictures to life. This is what animation is all about. A film’s animator is the one responsible for giving these still pictures their “spirit,” enabling them to move. A successful animator who has made a lot of money might be inclined to be magnanimous and so possess magnanimity, thus being great in the “spirit” of giving.

Have you ever experienced a vote taken in a group that was a unanimous decision, where all participants were of one “mind”? Such unanimity is rare and could very well have engendered equanimity or a state of being balanced and peaceful in “mind” among the group’s members since they were all in agreement.

I hope that you now feel animated or “spirited” about the Latin root anim, and are able to keep it in “mind”!